Page 43 of Midnight Racers

“What exactly?” I asked. “The race or keeping our new team member? Let me assure you, we’ll be winning both.” I turned away from him as well, ignoring the little shit and stealing the power he thought he wielded. He could fuck right off as I had better things to worry about.

Charlotte met my eyes for a split second before she dipped her head, but there was hurt there that she hadn’t been able to mask. I wished I was able to strip that pain from her because there was no way she deserved it. She had displayed courage and grace when she walked into our factory, holding her head up, even when she looked terrified by the change.

The guys formed a line along the side of our car. Charlotte took her place beside me as chief engineer. I held my helmet in my hand, fiddling with the strap.

“Keep her tight, and watch the transitions as we have a new gearbox in her,” Charlotte said.

“You better be ready to get on your knees tonight,” I said in a low voice for only her to hear.

The blush that crept across her cheeks made my dick twitch because I had seen that red colouring every time I had introduced her to something new in the world of sex. Her life had been vanilla until she walked into my world and discovered the rainbow of variety that was available nowadays.

“You’re not allowed to say things like that,” she whispered. “People could overhear.”

“That is part of the fun, baby,” I said, keeping my head down since I knew Jordan had a tendency to lipread conversations he wasn’t part of.

“Stay focused, stay safe, keep your eye on the road, and your head in the game.” Charlotte stared at her feet for several moments. “Be careful. Dale can be a real jerk when he’s angry.”

“Gotcha,” I said, pulling my helmet on. I could tell she was worried, but there was nothing more I could do to make her feel better right now.

Charlotte had seen me race, but what she had never seen was me in a car chase. I had killed men at one hundred miles an hour on the twisted coastal roads of the Mediterranean. Racing required you to go round and round in a circuit. Being an assassin required you to be able to outmanoeuvre the person trying to kill you.

I cracked my neck from side to side before sliding in behind the steering wheel and began all my pre-race checks. Charlotte had already done them, but this was tradition and it helped to settle my nerves and get my head into the right space.

This was the order in the chaos of my life. My fingers moved over the different controls as I checked them. “Testing, testing,” I said into my headset as I turned the communication device on.

“Hearing you loud and clear,” Declan said in my ear.

“Keep an eye on that shit out there,” I said. “I don’t trust him and he’s running high right now.” They would know what I meant and it wasn’t just the track I was talking about. All the guys knew that Jordan had encountered one of Charlotte’s old team at our factory. There was something they wanted access to and I was sure they would try to grab whatever it was at the first opportunity. A team was currently sitting inside our building that they’d previously targeted. If anyone tried to break in, they would have a nasty shock.

I saw Charlotte putting her own set of earphones on so she would be involved in the network during the race. Drivers tended to relay any problems as they encountered them during the race, and the team noted them.

The race officials moved between vehicles, writing on their clipboards. I reverted to my normal breathing, in for four, holding for four, and breathing out for four. My mind started to clear, and my focus fixed on nothing but the car and track. We addled into a starting position, and I stretched my fingers before retracting them again a few times since I was about to grip the wheel for the next half an hour or so.

“See you all on the other side.” I said the same words I said before every race. It had started as a joke, and became tradition.

“Stay away from bright lights,” Jordan replied to complete the ritual.

I revved the engine a few times and I felt her purr to life under me. Everything inside me settled as the vibrations moved up my spine, bringing me calm. Dale had manoeuvred himself to be the car beside me, the asshole making a show of ensuring that everyone knew he was there by hitting his accelerator over and over again. I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes as no one would see the gesture.

It didn’t matter if he was Charlotte’s brother or any other rider on this track. Everyone belonged behind me, and it was my job to keep them there. The countdown appeared on the screen in front of us, and an official waved a flag to my right to indicate we start.

I slammed my car into first, the clutch coming up as the accelerator went down. The wheels spun and the car lurched forward to signify the start of the race.

These races weren’t monitored in the same way as the official circuit. It allowed us to test our cars. I tended to avoid them but since we had made major changes, our team needed as much track time to test it as possible. My guess was that Dale was the same. I may not race in them all, but Jordan and I always attended these events to make connections and check out what other people were bringing to the game.

I’d seen Dale at these races and it wasn’t the first time he’d run someone off the track and ruined their car. He was a madman with a God complex and the world had enough of those. Well, a few less than there used to be, considering Jordan had gone on a rampage against the Council.

Considering Charlotte was one of the kindest people I had met, it amazed me that Dale was her brother. Perhaps he was adopted?

I took the first corner, accelerating instead of braking to make sure I was in front of Dale. The little shit could get high on my exhaust fumes because there was no way I was letting him get in front of me.

Fuck that shit.

It had been risky since I could have lost control on a corner like that, but I knew Charlotte had tightened the suspension on this baby to make her whip around instead of losing control.

I took off down the straight like the devil himself was chasing me, keeping one eye in front of me and the other in the rear-view mirror for the maniac behind me. The next few turns I took it easier since I had gotten my position. Dale kept trying to overtake me first on the left and then on the right. His movements were jerky, his temper starting to show in his driving.

Grandpa had taught me a long time ago that you never took your problems into a race with you.

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